Exploring truth in the Gospel of John — What Is Truth?

Howard Thurman once said, “If you find something in a religion that is true, it is not true because it is in that religion; it is in that religion because it is true.”

In the Gospel of John 18:37–38, Jesus is in the custody of Pontius Pilate. Pilate said to him, “You are a king, then!” Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world: to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” Pilate asked, “What is truth?”

Jesus masterfully unmasked the façade of the Roman Empire in this conversation with Pilate.

He lived, practiced, and promoted the human truths that all life is precious, that all people are created in the image of God and valued by God, and that a nation or community should be judged by how it treats the most vulnerable.

Jesus used his seemingly vulnerable circumstance to expose the truth of Caesar and Rome: that Caesar and Rome did not value objective truth. Their method of domination was to use propaganda, disinformation, and alternative facts to confuse and control the populace, while profiting off the chaos that followed.

When Pilate said, “What is truth?” he was unknowingly admitting that he and the empire would tell outright lies and resort to obscene distortions to drown out those who dared speak truth to power. Rome believed it did not have to abide by laws or be accountable to any system designed to keep it in check. If denying science furthered Rome’s idolatrous intentions, it would deny science—no matter how many lives would suffer. If using the military and government offices to harass and silence detractors helped its goals of domination, Rome would weaponize its government under the guise of law and order. If demonizing a group of people by skin color, birthplace, or religion gained popular support, Rome would churn out hate propaganda to scapegoat and hide its greed and corruption.

When Pilate said, “What is truth?” he unwittingly revealed that instead of creating a just society, Rome and its Caesars were claiming to be gods, demanding worship from the people.

The conversation Jesus had with Pilate is instructive to us today in separating divine, objective truth from the toxic trash of empire’s methodology of “making a desert and calling it peace,” to quote the esteemed prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley.

Jesus left us bread crumbs to follow in this encounter with Pilate. He is showing us who empire really is, and exposing all those who use hate, violence, and lies to gain power over the masses who resist domination.

As the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

In the words of the late biblical scholar Walter Wink, Jesus “unmasked the powers,” so that those who worship God “in spirit and in truth” would organize nonviolent resistance to create communities of compassion, empathy, and wholeness—where those at the bottom of society are respected, cherished, and loved because they are created in the image of God.
Jesus unmasked the powers so that, in his words, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32), freeing us from the poisonous prevarications of those M. Scott Peck called “people of the lie.”

Be encouraged, be authentic, and stay woke. Uhuru Sassa!

The Rev. Dr. John E. Jackson, Sr. is the Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ-Gary, 1276 W. 20th Ave. in Gary. “We are not just another church but we are a culturally conscious, Christ-centered church, committed to the community; we are unashamedly Black and unapologetically Christian.” Contact the church by email at [email protected] or by phone at 219-944-0500.